Track star says she’s tired of Christians being called ‘bigots’ for opposing trans athletes in girls’ sports
Crean Lutheran High School girls track and field athlete Olivia Viola will compete against a transgender athlete at the state tournament for the third year in a row.
Last season, Viola watched a transgender competitor break her personal best and eliminate her from the state tournament; Moreover, she had to face criticism for speaking out in support of herself and other female athletes.
As a Christian, this issue is important to Viola, but she also believes it applies to women of all faiths. But he also suggested Christians were unfairly targeted in the crackdown against “Save the Girls Sports” activism.
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Crean Lutheran’s Olivia Viola competes in the girls high jump during the CIF Southern Division Masters Meet at Moorpark High School on May 24, 2025 in Moorpark, California. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
“I would say it’s unfair to everyone, I’m not saying it’s exclusive to Christians, I would say it’s unfair to all women who have to compete. [trans athletes]. “But I think it’s not fair to label Christians as bad guys or bigots because they don’t want a man in our spaces,” he said.
This year will be the first time he will be able to vote to do something about it.
With the state’s gubernatorial election approaching this year and protecting girls’ sports at the top of Viola’s agenda, Viola plans to vote for Sheriff Chad Bianco.
“He’s shown support for us, there’s not a lot of people willing to take a public stance on this issue, and he’s shown very strong support for us and for women, which is great,” Viola said.
Bianco said in a February interview with Fox News Digital that she would use “force” as governor to ensure the protection of girls’ sports.
“You’re forcing people not to do it,” he said of how to handle schools that allow boys to participate in girls’ sports. “If they allow this in our high schools and our school system, we’re not going to fund it. We’re not going to fund the school, we’re not going to give them their money.”
Viola has been publicly campaigning in the state’s “Save Girls’ Sports” movement since last year.
“I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from other people saying this is very important and they appreciate what we’re doing to fight for it. So I would honestly say the majority of people think it’s important,” Viola said.
CHAD BIANCO ANNOUNCES HIS CALIFORNIA SPORTS VISION: SAVING THE LA OLYMPICS AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRANS ATHLETE CRISIS
Crean Lutheran’s Olivia Viola competes in the girls high jump during the CIF Southern Division Masters Meet at Moorpark High School on May 24, 2025 in Moorpark, California. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
A. bipartisan poll A study by the Public Policy Institute of California found that a majority of California residents oppose biological male transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
More than 70% of this figure includes state school parents.
“A majority of Californians support transgender athletes competing on teams that match the gender they were assigned at birth,” the survey said. “An overwhelming majority of adults (65%) and likely voters (64%) support transgender athletes competing on teams that match the gender they were assigned at birth, not the gender with which they identify. An overwhelming majority of public school parents (71%) support such a requirement.”
For Viola’s parents, Tracy and Juan Luis, the issue has caused great frustration, especially with current Gov. Gavin Newsom, following a statement from a source in his office last week that said Newsom “rejects the cynical right-wing attempt to weaponize this debate as an excuse to vilify individual children.” “The governor’s stance is simple: stand up for all children and stand up to bullies.”
Tracy and Juan Luis criticized the governor for his statement.
“Newsom used offensive and weaponized language towards 17-year-old girls. In my opinion, his words were intended to intimidate female athletes into compliance. These girls were making things complicated for him, so he preferred to keep quiet. This is a terrible thing for a governor to do. If the governor had any sense of right and wrong, he would applaud these girls for their courage in standing up for women’s rights,” the parents said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“There was no discussion in Newsom’s comments about the true root of the problem. He didn’t provide any answers about opposing Title IX. He didn’t offer any answers about how to fix the very bad policies in California that allow biological males into women’s athletic departments without any clear biological regulation.”
The parents added that they believe the issue should go beyond individual political and religious beliefs and are disappointed that more people who agree with them are not speaking out.
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“Based on how physically different men and women are, athletic categories must be based on pure biological reality – this includes a person’s age and biological sex – whether they have XX or XY chromosomes. When it comes to athletic divisions, nothing else matters – not political beliefs, not religious beliefs, not welfare, not gender ideology,” the statement said.
“If you try to blur those lines, you take away all credibility of justice. These girls aren’t telling people they can’t have ideological beliefs; they’re just saying they shouldn’t be involved in determining athletic distinctions. One of the most disappointing things to me is seeing how many people support the girls, but how few are willing to stand with them. I really don’t think we’ll see a change until everyone who believes athletics should have clear distinctions based on gender chooses to use their own athletic distinctions in their voices.”
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